New anti-circumcision movement compares the practice to genital mutilation - as it's revealed thousands of men are having foreskin restoration therapy
- Men are trying to regain some foreskin function by stretching their penis skin
- American inventor Rob Low says he has shipped 3000 TLC Tuggers to Australia
- Removing a baby's foreskin harms the sensitivity of their penis as an adult
- The foreskin has more than 10,000 nerve endings, provides gland protection
Increasing numbers of Australian men are trying to repair the damage done to their genitals when their well-meaning parents had them circumcised as babies.
Growing numbers of men are joining groups such as Intact Australia or the US-based Saving Our Sons and Intaction as they become aware that having an intact foreskin may dramatically affect the depth of their ability to enjoy sex.
Some are making efforts at foreskin restoration by stretching the remaining skin of the shaft so it encourages more skin to grow.
Eventually it can stretch so much that it will cover the head of the penis and perform the same protective function of the missing foreskin that was cut away in infancy.
Intact Australia director Max Roberts, an accountant by trade, began foreskin restoration by stretching his penis skin seven years ago in order to restore some of the function lost by circumcision.
'Even after a few weeks, I was able to tell some difference, you could see some gains there,' he said.
Mr Roberts told Daily Mail Australia many men are unaware how much their childhood circumcision may have affected their penile sensitivity as adults.
'The foreskin has tens of thousands of erogenous nerve endings that are stripped off. It's shocking,' he said on Friday.
'It's an essential part of the male genitalia. It provides protection for the glands and keeps them soft and moist.'
Max Roberts, director of Intact Australia, holds stalls at parenting expos to educate people about the importance of leaving a baby boy's foreskin intact. Intact Australia also hosts a website at intactaus.org. The foreskin is estimated to have more than 10,000 nerve endings and removing it harms the sensitivity of the adult penis
Mr Roberts said the foreskin plays an essential role in protecting the sensitive nerve endings in the glands at the head of the penis.
'In circumcised men, the glands can become calloused and keratinized, and it buries the nerve endings under the calloused tissue,' he said.
In a move that took considerable personal courage, Mr Roberts shared the methods he used to stretch his penis skin publicly in order to help other men who don't know there is a way to restore some foreskin function.
Max Roberts bravely went public with the methods he used to stretch his penis skin in order to restore some foreskin function, in order to help other men. Step 1 is to manually stretch and hold the skin for five minutes
Mr Roberts explained to SBS The Feed that the first and easiest step was stretching the skin with his hands and holding it for five minutes.
He moved on to use a device called the TLC Tugger, invented by American industrial engineer and fellow 'intactivist' Rob Low, who said he has shipped up to 3000 units to Australian men.
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The instrument is shaped like two medicine cups and the skin is stretched forward and stuffed into the larger cup and held in place with the smaller cup.
The device can then be strapped to a leg with elastic to keep the tension on.
Lastly, he used a device called the 'dual tension restorer', a complicated plastic stick with rubber bands that can be worn under a pair of shorts.
'Good gains with that,' he said.
But the best method of ensuring no damage to the foreskin is not to cut it off in the first place.
Max Roberts demonstrates the TLC Tugger, which can be strapped to the leg for tension
The dual tension restorer can be worn under a pair of shorts in order to stretch the skin
Mr Roberts' group, Intact Australia, has about 200 members called 'intactivists' in its Australian and New Zealand chapters.
They run book stalls at fairs and stalls at parenthood expos as they spread the message to people not to chop their son's foreskins off, but instead to let them choose for themselves when they are old enough to make a decision.
They have been joined in their efforts by US-based group Intaction, which is running a campaign called Foreskin Revolution to raise awareness about the importance of leaving baby's genitals uncut.
Foreskin Revolution leader Michael Winnel, an Australian who has moved to Brooklyn, New York, has brought 'foreskin salutes' and 'foreskin fist-pumps for world peace' to the debate as he tries to change attitudes.
'Forced amputation of children's healthy body parts does not belong in the 21st Century,' he said.
Foreskin Revolution leader Michael Winnel in Brooklyn in 2014. The former pharmaceuticals representative has devoted himself to raising awareness about the importance of foreskins
Mr Winnel compared male circumcision to mutilation.
'You're not allowed to do scarification on your children, you're not allowed to do foot binding. Yet, you're allowed to hack off the most sensitive part of their penis for the rest of their life,' Winnel told The Feed.
Australian rates of circumcision have dropped from 80 per cent in the 1950s to 10 per cent now as attitudes to cutting baby's genitals have changed.
Sydney pediatric surgeon Anthony Dilley said he had conducted more than 25,000 circumcisions in over 20 years of practice.
Some men seek to circumcise their sons simply because they themselves were circumcised. A few men voluntarily have circumcision to solve a medical problem where their foreskins don't retract.
Michael Winnel campaigning on the streets of New York. He has taken his foreskin salutes and foreskin fist-pumps for world peace to the streets of Sydney to promote the right of babies to have their genitals left intact until they are old enough to choose for themselves
Male circumcision is also religiously practiced by Judaism and Islam.
Mr Roberts told Daily Mail Australia that there was a healthy debate going on within Judaism.
'A lot of Jews are turning away (from circumcision),' he said.
'We have an Intact Jewish network to provide awareness of the dangers of circumcision and the benefits of keeping intact.'
Mr Roberts said it was harder to get the message through to Muslims who viewed circumcision as cleaner and healthier, even though it is not.
'All we can say to them is that Allah said: Let there be no change in Allah's creation,' he said.
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